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Cantina Roll-Call: Shedding Light on Some Alien Aliases

This Place Can Be A Little Rough

Star Wars fans love detail. The intricately crafted worlds of the films and expanded universe are what sell the fantastic as reality and keep viewers and readers coming back for more. Many fans aren’t content to accept a background alien as just a background alien: they want to know who he, she, or it is, its planet of origin, and what exactly the alien was up to in that scene.
From the earliest days of writing Star Wars, George Lucas dovetailed his interests in science fiction, fantasy, and anthropology and wrote elaborately detailed backstories for his creations. In the Lucasfilm Archives are transcripts of brainstorming sessions wherein Lucas laid out the ecology of Kashyyyk, and the complete cultural roots of the Wookiees — all this for a species that would ultimately be represented by a single character, Chewbacca, and a planet that would go unseen in the original trilogy.

The Mos Eisley Cantina is a wealth of character and alien information, but much has been lost over the quarter-century of Star Wars. Misplaced production notes and half-remembered anecdotes make piecing together who was in the shadowy watering hole difficult. During the publishing resurgence of the early 1990s, many of the cantina aliens were given full histories, but these were invented from scratch; the authors essentially had a clean slate to work with, with little more than simplistic filming nicknames as a starting point. “Four Eyes,” “Bat” and “Plutonian” are hardly compelling character names.

In the summer of 2000, shortly after Lucas shot the Outlander Club sequence for Episode II, dozens of the nightclub extras were promptly assigned character names and species in anticipation of spin-off fiction or licensing possibilities. These details were established concurrent with production, rather than invented long after the fact. Lucas and Lucasfilm named such barely-glimpsed nightclub denizens as Lunae Minx, Oakie Dokes, Sel Maa and Nyrat Agira.

The 1970s were a far different time. Back then, naming and establishing the backstory of the cantina aliens was not anyone’s priority. Furthermore, Lucas was never entirely pleased with the progress of the cantina scene, and had more pressing concerns. During the initial shooting of the sequence in England, Makeup Supervisor Stuart Freeborn was ill and could not complete enough aliens in time. Lucas later had to cajole 20th Century Fox for more money for reshoots, and photographed insert shots of booth-dwelling aliens crafted by ILM and Rick Baker.

Lucas was surprised that the cantina became an audience favorite, since it had always represented compromise and disappointment in his mind. But the skills of Freeborn, Baker, and other makeup artists, along with judicious editing, made the cantina appear much more than the sum of its parts. In 1978, when Kenner Products began making action figures, cantina aliens were high on the wish list. The toymakers began requesting names and details for the many nameless aliens.

So, in 1978, internal memos at Lucasfilm established names for many of the aliens, though only Walrus Man, Hammerhead, Snaggletooth and Greedo ever got to action figure form. Also that year, “The Star Wars Holiday Special” aired for the first and only time, and it too featured a scene in the cantina, with more aliens supplied by Rick Baker. But even then, there wasn’t much information about the bar’s inhabitants.

Fast-forward to 1989. Star Wars publishing is largely dormant, with West End Games being the sole publisher regularly expanding the universe through roleplaying games and guides. Galaxy Guide I: A New Hope added more information about the cantina aliens — including names and backgrounds for many of them, though author Grant Boucher invented much of the material since there was nothing to go on. Also that year, author Troy Denning shed light on more history with Galaxy Guide 4: Alien Races. In 1995, Bantam Books’ Tales From The Mos Eisley Cantina not only added more names, but added personality and histories to a number of cantina aliens. That same year, Decipher Inc. fleshed out more cantina aliens in their Star Wars Customizable Card Game.

Earlier this year, poking through the photo archives at Lucasfilm revealed more secrets of these cantina denizens. Here’s an exclusive look at what the research uncovered:

Friendly Neighborhood Cullatran

Hem Dazon
Stepping into the cantina, one the first characters you see is Hem Dazon, a glittery-eyed Arcona that was photographed as part of insert-footage. He was simply a bodiless puppet named “T-head” on set and designed and built by Laine Liska. According to Lucasfilm memoranda dated September 13, 1978, he was to have been given the proper name of “Thadd,” though that name went unused. In the Holiday Special, the puppet head was mounted on an extra that walked through frame, giving a very brief view of the creature’s humanoid anatomy.
In 1989, West End Games established the Arcona species of salt-addicted limbed serpents. A boxed miniature set identified the Arcona in the cantina as Hem Dazon, though the Star Wars Screen Entertainment software package would attempt to name him Kal Nkai. Dazon is the name that stuck.

Defel & Lak Sivrak
In supplementing the existing cantina alien footage, pinch-hitter Rick Baker pulled a number of pre-existing masks off-the-shelf to fill in the booth-based reshoots. This included two different furry-faced wolfmen in the cantina.

The first one seen in the original theatrical version of A New Hope is a snarly, shadowy creature with glowing red eyes. Baker’s crew nicknamed this alien “Wolfman,” but it is not the same alien as the more visible canine carouser seen later in the scene. That other wolfman was actually nicknamed “Hyena-Man,” and he didn’t get a proper name until 1989, when he was established as Lak Sivrak, the Shistavanen Wolfman.

The first wolfman went unnamed until Decipher Inc. described him as a “Defel” in the card game. The Defel first appeared in a 1989 gamebook as a compelling species of shadowy mercenaries that have the natural ability to absorb visible light. That worked well with the Defel barely glimpsed in the movie, but how do you explain photos of that original wolfman in plain lighting with clearly visible details? To alleviate that discrepancy, Decipher would later go on to explain that the Defel in the Cantina, Arliel Schous, is aging and is losing his light-absorbing talents, though that leaves readers to presume that any time an artist uses the “Wolf Man” mask as reference for a background alien, it is meant to be an aging Defel.

The off-the-shelf canine masks long bothered Lucas, and when it came time to do the Special Editions both aliens were replaced with more elaborate creations.

Trinto Duaba
This booth-lurking alien was nicknamed “Terminal Man,” not only for his deathly appearance, but also odd electrical terminals grafted into his craggy skin. He was also known as “Veiny” and “Future Man.” His name and backstory as Trinto, a vampiric Force-gobbling Stennes Shifter, came about in the mid-1990s through the Decipher Star Wars Customizable Card Game.

Brainiac
Another alien from Rick Baker’s crew, this giant-headed specimen was known on set as “Brainee,” “Cranium Head” and “Crater Head.” He was never given a specific name until 1995, when he was dubbed Braniac, which according to lore is apparently just a nickname.

Bom Vimdin
This Rick Baker-supplied alien has probably the oddest on-set nickname: Don Rickles. No, the famous Vegas insult-comic didn’t have anything to do with Star Wars, but this particular alien hockey puck resembled the comedian enough to earn the sobriquet. He didn’t get a “real” name until 1993, when West End Games identified him as Bom Vimdin, the Advozse.

Myo
It’s easy to trace the etymology of most of the on-set alien nicknames, such as The One-Eyed Cyclops. His proper name was going to be Cyceyed, back in 1978, but that name was lost to time. In 1995, a roleplaying sourcebook, Alliance Intelligence Reports, featured a cyclopean Abyssin named Myo. When the Decipher card of this character came out, the cantina alien finally had a name.

The spin-off material established Myo as a sort of hulking brute, but in truth, the person wearing the mask in the cantina was actually pretty scrawny compared to more recent artwork of the beefy Abyssins. Myo was a Laine Liska-designed slip-on mask with slight articulation of the eye.

Muftak
A fan favorite for his warbling drone and his endearing confused head-scratch, Muftak was nicknamed Spider-Man on the set. It wasn’t for any similarity to the famous webslinging superhero, but rather because arachnids inspired the multiple eyes on the creature’s fuzzy face. Clearly, there was no use establishing “Spider-Man” as this alien’s proper handle. Besides, it had another nickname: Four Eyes. This alien was also in the Holiday Special, where it warbled the exact same dialogue to the cantina hostess played by Bea Arthur.

According to a 1978 memo, this alien was going to be named Cullatran, but more than a decade later, the name Muftak and the species Talz was applied by the writers of the roleplaying game.

Djas Puhr
A recent Hasbro toy, the detailed and articulated action figure of Djas Puhr has sparked many a fan to ask, “just who is this guy?” He’s hard to spot in the cantina, but he’s definitely there, with his gleaming black skin and inexpressive face. This character was identified as “Coal Man” during production. A pale-faced version of the same alien species — Sakiyan — appears in “The Star Wars Holiday Special.” The proper and difficult-to-pronounce name of Djas Puhr came from the Customizable Card Game.

Of Hare Mice and Gila Men

Feltipern Trevagg
Concept artist Ron Cobb illustrated a number of alien designs during the development of the cantina sequence. In the margins of the illustrations were a number of biological notes, explaining the creature’s native environment. A twin-horned scruffy-faced alien was described as being a “High Tundra” creature, and that became its default nickname on set.

Make up artist Laine Liska crafted the High Tundra mask and hands. The alien was to have been given the proper name of Dratun. It wasn’t until the Tales of the Mos Eisley Cantina anthology in the mid-90s that this alien was identified as corrupt tax collector Feltipern Trevagg. His alien species, the Gotal, was established in 1989’s Galaxy Guide 4: Alien Races.

M’iiyoom Onith
When we first saw Feltiperrn in the cantina, he was snuggling up to a beak-nosed alien who was giggling up a storm. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, of course, but this comely alien was given the unflattering on-set nickname of Yam Nose.

The alien was to have the proper name of Yamnoss, but instead fell into obscurity. The alien mask was resurrected for Return of the Jedi, though that particular alien is barely visible on screen.

In 1995’s Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina, we learn that Yam Nose is really M’iiyoom Onith, whose name translates to “Nightlily.” She’s a tender young H’nemthe with a deadly secret that Feltiperrn finds out during a stolen moment of intimacy.

Leesub Sirln
One of the on-set aliens shot in England, Leesub Sirln was only identified as “Weird Girl” in the production notes. She didn’t get her proper name until the first set of the Star Wars Customizable Card Game, which established her as a Qiraash. A production photo of this character has her standing in front of the Millennium Falcon, suggesting the proximity of both the docking bay and cantina stages.

Solomahal
This alien has always had a military leaning. During shooting, it was known simply as “The Colonel,” though another nickname was “the Hare Mouse.” Seen both in the cantina and wandering the alleys of Mos Eisley, the Colonel had a very rotund build. Its original proper name was going to be Ownellco, but it went without a moniker until the Customizable Card Game established him as Solomahal. According to the lore printed on the card, Solomahal was a veteran of the Clone Wars. He most likely achieved the rank of Colonel.

The Saurins
There are at least two thirsty reptilian bipeds at the bar in A New Hope. On set, they were simply known as “Crockers” or “Gila-Men,” but one of them was to have been given the proper name of “Gilaass.” It wasn’t until 1995 that they were given proper species name of Saurins, and individual names of Sai’torr and Hrchek Kal Fas.

Nabrun Leids
Turned into an action figure by Hasbro, the four-armed Nabrun Leids was called the Plutonian on set. Though Leids is a male, the slight build and production photography revealed the extra playing him to be a female. The alien’s long, cone-like head prompted its other nickname, Squid Head, which predated the Quarren nickname by several years. This nickname became the source of its intended proper name of Quidultii, which was forgotten for years. The name Nabrun Leids came from the Customizable Card Game.

Takeel
Most fans know Snaggletooth from the vintage action figure made by Kenner. The legendary “Blue Snaggletooth” came about when Kenner didn’t have adequate reference photography to design the figure of the alien, so the sculptors guessed at its body shape and wardrobe. The result was a Snaggletooth that was too tall, too blue, and a prized collector’s item. Kenner corrected the alien by giving him a red jumpsuit and a shorter build, but even that particular Snaggletooth can’t be found in A New Hope.

The Customizable Card Game gave the dopey-looking alien seen sitting next to Han and Chewie’s booth the proper name of Takeel. His species name, Snivvian, was developed around the same time by the roleplaying game. In the late 70s, the proper name “Tooggle” was set aside for this alien, though it went unused.

The mask was re-used for “The Star Wars Holiday Special”, for a character wearing a red-and-black jumpsuit not used in the original film. It is this character that the action figure Snaggletooth is meant to represent. The Holiday Special established his name as Zutmore, which later became Zutton.

Greedo
Greedo was the only cantina alien whose name was actually spoken in the film. There were several Greedo-type aliens in the cantina and Mos Eisley scenes, all dressed identically. Production notes nicknamed Greedo’s alien species “Martians,” since the bug-eyed green-skinned suction cup-fingered alien fit many a Martian cliché. That name would never do for Star Wars, which is set in a distant galaxy with no Mars.

A 1978 memo established Greedo as one of the Graffties, a species of bipeds whose name may be a corruption of American Graffiti, in reference to Lucasfilm’s other big hit of the era. In 1989, that name had been forgotten, and Galaxy Guide 1 established Greedo as a Rodian. Since then, “Rodian” has been adopted not only by the expanded universe, but also the production team that often uses the correct alien name in indentifying the many Rodian extras seen in the prequels.

Dannik Jerriko
Sometimes a cigar-smoker is just a cigar-smoker, and sometimes a background extra is a gateway to gothic horror fiction. The perfect example of an alien that’s more than meets the eye, this simple extra identified only as “smoker” has gone on to have an elaborate, high-concept, and macabre backstory. The extra playing the smoker wore simple make-up to modify his features. There appears to be no attempt at naming this alien back in the 70s. Perhaps his hookah-habit prevented him from being an action figure — a child’s play thing dedicated to a smoker would probably have raised a few parental eyebrows.

Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina reveals that the smoker is Dannik Jerriko, a centuries-old vampire with a dark and twisted past, who uses jagged proboscii concealed in cheek-pouches to drain the life from his unsuspecting victims.

Louie, Louie

Dr. Evazan
“You’ll be dead!” There’s one of these guys in every seedy bar, a loudmouth troublemaker with something to prove. Only identified as “grubby human” in the script, this ugly bully boasted having the death sentence on 12 systems. Some sources have mistakenly identified this thug as “Snaggletooth,” (long time fans may remember the Jedi Master Quizbook saying this).

In the radio drama, this human was named Roofoo, though in 1989, we learn that he is in truth Dr. Evazan, a sick and twisted doctor who earned the dozen death-marks by mutilating his patients. He has since been established to have numerous aliases, including the Doctor, Doctor Death, and Doctor Cornelius.

Ponda Baba
This is the ill-fated thug that tries to pick a fight with the meek Luke Skywalker. In the script, he is simply called “Creature,” and Lucas describes him as a “large, multiple-eyed creature.”

The finished alien was realized as a slip-on mask and set of gloves, and had the nickname of Walrus Man. The disarming lightsaber attack was shot practically on stage, with a tear-away arm prop worn by the extra who played Walrus Man. The effect never really worked, and Lucas had to cut around it, obscuring the action editorially. The reveal of the severed arm was shot as an insert after the fact. However, on set in London, Walrus Man had big, awkward fin-like hands. The inserted arm had a hairy claw.

For a time, Walrus Man’s proper name was slated to be Russwall, but that name never saw print, and the action figure that Kenner produced bore the simplistic production nickname. Not that many fans seemed to mind — besides, more than one young action figure collector renamed him “Bum Face” for his inward-curving tusks.

In the 1981 radio dramatization of A New Hope, Walrus Man is given the name of Sawkee. His final name of Ponda Boba didn’t come about until 1989, in Galaxy Guide 1, which also revealed him to be an Aqualish. Sawkee is just one of the many aliases this criminal uses.

Swilla Corey
According to production notes, there were several “local girls” on set, meaning female human Tatooine residents that would not require complicated alien masks. One of the extras, noted in continuity logs simply as “Jenny” was to be seen snuggling next to Han Solo. She was cut from the film, but can be seen in a video included in 1997’s Behind the Magic CD-ROM from LucasArts. An image of this scene was also published in Star Wars Insider #41 in a fascinating article about an early cut of A New Hope.

Another local girl is a stringy-hair blonde lurking behind Ben Kenobi after the old Jedi puts away his lightsaber. This character was established as Swilla Corey by the Customizable Card Game.

Kabe
The squeaky little rodent who requests a tall blue beverage was known simply as “Bat” on set. Other notes use the nickname “Demon.” Though Kabe has since been revealed to be a relatively harmless pickpocket, the original script for A New Hope has the small rodent creature as a cohort to Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba as they accost Luke. If you watch the cantina scene closely, you can see that Evazan exchanges a few words with Kabe before the fight breaks out.

Production notes identify the alien’s early proper name as Tink. It would be renamed Kabe and established as a female partner in petty crime to Muftak in Galaxy Guide 1: A New Hope.

Labria
Labria, the razor-toothed devil-faced Devaronian, has been revealed to have a checkered past. While Tatooine Manhunt, a roleplaying module published in 1988, and Galaxy Guide 1 suggest him to be a harmless drunk, Tales of the Mos Eisley Cantina showed Labria to be a fugitive war criminal named Kardue’sai’Malloc.

Would fans consider this horned miscreant any less sinister if they knew his on-set nickname of “Louie?” He was also simply referred to as “the Devil.” This Rick Baker-creation was added to the cantina during the additional photography that filled out the booths with exotic aliens.

And the Band Played On

Modal Nodes

Surprisingly, the most memorable aliens from the cantina didn’t get immortalized as action figures until 1996. The swinging cantina band consisted of large-headed aliens built by Doug Beswick. They weren’t present during principal photography, instead added during the reshoots that filled out the scene. Known simply as “Band Member,” the aliens were going to be given the proper species name of Sicmoo, which appears to be a simple rearrangement of the word “music.” In the Holiday Special, the band leader is referred to by name as Babarine.
The proper alien name of Bith and the bandleader’s name, Figrin D’an, came from Galaxy Guide 1. The names of the bandmembers were fleshed out in Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina.

Tonnika Sisters
The Tonnika twins weren’t exactly twins. Their production nickname was “Space Girls,” though their fashion sense of wearing their underwear on the outside led to a less-than flattering (and somewhat unprintable) nickname. They were played by two local extras that were not related, and did not look alike at all.

But in 1989, when Galaxy Guide 1: A New Hope filled in this pair’s backstory, it established that the girls were identical. The artwork accompanying the article was cheated — it was based on production photography of the cantina extras, but only one of the girls was illustrated. The artwork was reversed and duplicated, creating a mirror image.

This presented a problem when it came using photography of these extras. They clearly weren’t identical, despite what their backstory claimed. Timothy Zahn resolved this discrepancy with his short story in the Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina anthology.

In “Hammertong,” Zahn reveals that the non-identical girls in the cantina that day weren’t the real Tonnika sisters. The real twins were doing time in some prison for one of their many capers. The women posing as them were actually undercover Mistryl shadow warriors.

The Duros
Though Star Wars fans now know these social aliens as Duros, on set they were simply called Goggle-Eyes. Realized as inarticulate slip-on masks built by Phil Tippett, only one of the two Duros seen in the cantina was fitted with alien gloves, producing quite the size disparity in the aliens’ hands.

The Duros backstory was established by author Troy Denning in Galaxy Guide 4: Alien Races, who detailed their long history of spacefaring that rivals that of the Corellians.

During the production of Episode I, the Neimoidians were to be computer-generated, but when George Lucas decided to realize them instead as animatronic masks, he pointed at some classic trilogy photography of the original Goggle-Eyes and declared them Neimoidians.

Of course, the Duros backstory had already been developed, so the resulting Neimoidians ended up with a history that intertwines with the Duros and the aliens that resulted had enough superficial differences to the original Duros to allow both backstories to be preserved.

Kitik Keed’kak
One of the most elaborate puppets on set is hardly seen in the finished movie. Identified only as “Praying Mantis,” this giant green insect was operated by Jack Purvis, the same actor who played the chief Jawa, chief Ugnaught, and Teebo the Ewok in the classic trilogy. It was part of principal photography, and was on set in London. It was named Kitik Keed’kak in the Decipher Customizable Card Game.

Reegesk
This sniveling little rodent wore robes much like a Jawa, but the lack of true binocular vision on its pointed head clearly indicates it is not meant to be an un-hooded representative of that species. In addition to the rodent in the cantina, a rather tall member of this same species walks across frame as Luke is selling his landspeeder.

Galaxy Guide 4: Alien Races establishes this species as a Ranat, a ravenous race of vermin. The specific alien seen in the cantina is Reegesk, as revealed in Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina. During production, the alien was known simply as “Rodent” or “Rat Face.” John Mollo’s costume sketches suggest it was to wear a face-mask at some point. It’s early proper name was Aceatta, but that name never saw print.

Dice Ibegon
This serpentine alien is seen next to Lak Sivrak, the Shistavanen Wolfman. Part of the booth-based reshoots, on set this puppet was referred to as “Snake Head.” It was going to have a proper character name of Nake, but years later, it became a female Florn Lamproid named Dice Ibegon in Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina.

Elis Helrot
Another booth-based reshoot alien, this walking skeleton with the anguished face was based on original illustrations by Ralph McQuarrie. It was nicknamed “Skull Head,” and was to have the proper name of Kull. In 1989, its species name was established as the Givin in Galaxy Guide 4: Alien Races, an alien race of mathematicians who could hermetically seal their external skeletons to survive exposure to vacuum. The particular Givin seen in A New Hope was named Elis Helrot, a slave-trader, according to the Customizable Card Game.

Flies, Snails and Hammerheads

Tzizvvt
Though its head resembles that of a giant fly, this alien’s production nickname was “Snail Head.” According to original 1978 Lucasfilm documents, it was to have been given the proper name of Illna. This alien was part of principal photography in London, and is mostly edited out of the film, replaced with more elaborate booth aliens during the reshoots. It was largely forgotten until Decipher revealed it to be Tzizvvt the Brizzit.

Momaw Nadon
A fan favorite, this alien was known for years simply as “Hammerhead” thanks to the Kenner action figure. Its production nickname sounded cool enough to keep for the toy, and even the radio drama has Luke comment upon seeing a “Meerian Hammerhead” while in the cantina.
The particular Hammerhead alien was named Ammerha by Lucasfilm in 1978, though that name went unused. In 1987, The Star Wars Sourcebook established the alien as an Ithorian, and then Momaw Nadon was revealed to be the Ithorian in the cantina in Galaxy Guide 1: A New Hope. A peaceful Rebel sympathizer, Nadon has appeared several times in the expanded universe.

Mosep
Mosep can be seen lurking the backstreets of Mos Eisley as Luke goes to sell his speeder. This background alien has drawn the attention of many long-time fans because he served as a stand-in for Jabba the Hutt in the original Marvel Comics adaptation of A New Hope.

Mosep was a walrus-faced humanoid in a faded red suit with a cut reminiscent of an Imperial officer’s uniform. During shooting, the alien was known as “Walrus,” “Ming” or “Mingo.” He didn’t get his proper name and Nimbanese heritage until 1995, when Galaxy Guide 12: Aliens — Enemies and Allies was published. This book also established that the Nimbanese work as bureaucrats for the Hutt criminal empire.

The ties to the Hutts were inspired by Marvel Comics using Mosep’s design to depict Jabba in a scene cut from A New Hope. Though George Lucas had always intended Jabba to be a big loathsome creature, he simply didn’t have the time or money to realize Jabba as a visual effect for the original film, so the confrontation between Han and Jabba was cut. It was originally filmed with an actor, Declan Mulholland, in a shaggy outfit, playing Jabba.

Though it was cut from the film, it stayed in the comic, and artist Howard Chaykin used Mingo as his Jabba substitute. Back then, the character was known as Jabba the Hut (he didn’t get a second ‘T’ until 1983). This character would appear once more to plague Han Solo in the Marvel series.

Of course, there were more cantina denizens, but the ones spotlighted here represent some of the more interesting specimens. If further research uncovers more facts — no matter how trivial — about the classic cantina sequence, look for an update someday.

Welcome to a look inside The Holocron. A collection of articles from the archives of *starwars.com no longer directly available.

(*Archived here with Permission utilising The Internet Archive Wayback Machine)

Let There Be Light!

As one of the three Industrial Light & Magic visual effects supervisors who worked on Episode I, Scott Squires had to deal with the creation of virtual realities on a daily basis. But the challenges of visual effects have changed a lot since the computer revolution reached cruising speed at the beginning of the 1990’s.

Now able to manipulate photons like atoms to create an entire universe and its inhabitants, the visual effects wizards at Industrial Light & Magic use computers to accomplish an always-increasing number of tasks that were traditionally handled not only by model builders, but also set builders and practical effects specialists.

“Our first step is to scan the film into the computer so that the whole shot is digitized,” says Squires. “Then everything is done digitally from that point.” For visual effects veterans, this is a great leap from the way effects work was accomplished before computers took over. For instance, the traditional procedure used to combine several different elements in the same frame is called “optical compositing,” and involves the projection of a series of already-shot visual elements that are re-photographed, in sequence, on unexposed areas of a previously partially-exposed strip of film. Optical technicians first photograph a background using mattes, which are opaque silhouettes used to block out certain areas of the film. Then the technicians “fill in the gaps” by photographing the rest of the elements, placing each of them in the proper blank space left by the mattes during the first step of photography. But if the asteroid added to the star field background during step two needs to be partially covered by a spacecraft, then the asteroid will be photographed with a matte in the shape of the spacecraft on top of it, in order to leave the blank space that will be occupied by the ship in step three – and so on. When this delicate process is completed, when all the layers have been added, the result is one frame of film. Twenty-three more of these will be required to create the illusion of one second of movement on the screen.

Visual effects used to be created in such ways, because optical compositing was simply the most effective process at the time. All the space battles in the classic Star Wars Trilogy, among other scenes, were painstakingly done using optical compositing techniques. In some cases, particularly in Return of the Jedi, the procedure involved putting together up to forty layers of visual elements combined on a background, for just one frame of film. Now that the digital revolution is in full bloom, the technology allows visual effects creators to combine different elements within the memory of a computer, without ever touching a piece of film. And though the digital age gives filmmakers access to a broader range of effects than what had been possible before, the work remains just as complex as it has always been. Better doesn’t necessarily mean easier, especially in the world of visual effects.

Whether the computer is used to combine two live-action elements photographed separately or a live-action shot with a computer-generated object, the process of digital compositing remains generally the same as it was with optical compositing, with each new layer being added onto the previous ones. Except, of course, that everything is accomplished within the computer. More importantly, the output also remains the same: one frame at a time. “After the digital work it goes back out of the computer: we put out little frames every day – this is called a “wedge” – just so we can check the color and the look on film,” says Squires. Still, today’s visual effects wizards have more power, and can do more in less time than was required in the past. Gone are the days of white-gloved optical artists manipulating strips of film in a dust-free environment. But enhanced power comes with enhanced challenges.

“I guess the biggest challenge was the volume of complex shots,” Squires says. “Our team alone had to deal with 561 shots in less than a year.” Dennis Muren and John Knoll were handed out different volumes of shots, based on the complexity of the work involved. So Muren’s team had to produce 310 shots, while Knoll’s team tackled an impressive 1072 shots. In Muren’s case, the number of shots was kept at a minimum because he needed to produce scenes that were completely computer-generated: the underwater sequence and the ground battle. And since an outside, daylight scene is the most difficult environment to create digitally, the ground battle alone represented quite a challenge.

“For my team, this meant twelve to fifteen final shots each week,” continues Squires, “compared to the average output of about 5 VFX shots a week on a major motion picture. And we needed to keep the quality level up, of course. So part of the challenge on this movie was to find creative and clever solutions to problems. To speed up things, we needed to find a balance between digital and practical effects. So for certain sequences, we would shoot physical models, and then digitally enhance the footage. At other times, we might use a digital matte painting instead of having the computer render a new background for each frame. And so on. We even used salt, poured from fourteen feet up in the air, as the basic visual element for the Theed waterfalls.”

However, as Squires points out, digital technology has reached a point where another type of challenge arises: “We also need to know when to say, okay, let’s stop here,” he continues. “One of the great things about this technology is that you can control everything to the Nth degree, but a lot of times you have to take a step back and realize that the element you’re working on might end up onscreen for two seconds. And sometimes, it won’t matter whether a particular piece of hair goes this way or that way. You just have to look at it realistically and make sure that your last few months on the project are spent finishing the film, and not making half the movie more perfect than it needs to be. Basically, we bring each shot up to the level George Lucas wants and needs. Then it’s time to move on the next shot.”

As traditional visual effects artists have discovered long ago, it is not always wise to do everything to make an effect absolutely perfect simply because the technology allows its users to do so. Most of the time, an element doesn’t need to be perfect in real life to look perfect on the screen. It’s a question of balance, and in that, digital technology hasn’t lightened the burden. It may in fact have made it a bit heavier. But the wizards of ILM rose to meet the new challenges of visual effects, and stand ready to repeat the feat on Episode II. The ‘magic’ in Industrial Light & Magic doesn’t only appear in the final product on the screen : It is part of the whole process.